Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever suffered a second straight loss to the Atlanta Dream on Saturday after blowing an 11-point lead in the first half of the game.
The Fever found themselves ahead 44-33 after a Kelsey Mitchell 3-pointer with 6:51 left to play in the second quarter. However, they couldn't slow down the Dream, who relentlessly attacked the basket and got some easy layups. Indiana eventually saw its lead decrease to just three points at halftime.
Atlanta dominated in the second half after that, using a 28-15 third quarter to take full control of the game. The Fever trailed by as many as 22 points in the fourth quarter before losing, 113-96.
Rhyne Howard led the Dream in scoring with 24 points, while Allisha Gray recorded 22 points. Angel Reese added 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jordin Canada stepped up with 12 points and 12 assists.
Clark had a game-high 26 points for the Fever, along with seven assists, but she also had seven turnovers. Mitchell scored 16 points, but she struggled from the field with 5-of-13 shooting.
Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images
After the game, Clark talked about the loss and what went wrong for the team, particularly in the third quarter when the Dream turned things around.
Aside from turnovers, Clark said that their foul troubles affected them offensively.
"I think we have to take care of the ball better and that starts with me, so I think just focusing on that," Clark said, per The Ballers Magazine. "What we did well in the first half was play in transition, spray, find open people. And then, really hard to do that when all we do is foul and they score. We didn't play in transition at all in the second half because of that."
The Fever had 19 total turnovers during the game, seven of which were committed by Clark. The Dream scored 18 points off those mistakes. Indiana also committed 29 fouls, with Atlanta getting 31 free throws (and making 21) out of them.
Sure enough, as Clark stated, they can't afford to be careless with the ball if they want to protect their lead. Defense has already been a major issue for them this campaign, and while they have shown the potential that they can be an elite defensive team, it's clear they still have a long way to go.
The Fever return to action on Monday against the Phoenix Mercury. It will be interesting to see whether Clark and company can bounce back after a disappointing two-game stretch against the Dream.
